The Malvern Hills, an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, have fired the imagination of painters, poets, writers, composers and scientists for many years. And the area has not lost any of its power to surprise, charm and thrill. The Malverns run almost directly north-south along the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border, dipping into Gloucestershire at its southern most end. The special quality of the Malverns lies in the contrasts. They make up an easily identifiable narrow ridge that thrust above the patchwork farmland of the Severn Vale 600 million years ago, producing a mountain range in miniature. Mike Smart's collection of photographs capture the spirit of these hills.